Oil prices ended the week on a lower note in Asia, after rallying by almost 30% in the week on signs of improving US crude demand. Crude for April dipped to settle at US$44.6 a barrel in Singapore on the Nymex, after spiking by over US$2.7 on Thursday.
Market indicators imply that a drop in US crude demand may be stabilizing, as Government data indicated a 1.7% jump in gasoline demand from the same period last year. A report by the US Energy Department showed a 700,000 barrel rise in crude inventories for the week ended February 20, less than the 3.5 mln barrel build-up analysts expected. How long the rally in oil prices will continue remains uncertain as gloomy economic news continue to reflect USA’s worst recession in decades. A new Government report indicates that new jobless claims rose again with over 5.2 mln Americans continuing to receive unemployment benefits. First-time requests for unemployment benefits jumped to 667,000 from the previous week's figure of 631,000 as per the Labor Department.
On the supply side, OPEC is likely to announce a production cut of about 1 mln bpd at its next meeting on March 15, adding to 4.2 mln bpd of output reductions pledged since September. This is a move by OPEC leaders to push oil to trade near US$70 a barrel.
02-Mar-09 
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